Weekly News: Martin Summers, gymnasts

I have seen the future. Twice this week, in fact. If you imagine I’m the kind of psychic who has one eye permanently on a pack of Tarot cards and the other on his tealeaves, you’ve got the wrong idea: I can’t read Tarot and Hanna uses teabags. But I love to spot emerging talent.

I played host to a team of young gymnastics champions this week, before heading off to art dealer Martin Summers’s birthday party for a sneak preview of his gallery’s latest exhibition, the first major show for my protege Stuart Semple.
And without touching a tealeaf I can promise you this: the girls of Bulmershe gym club are going to be Olympic stars, and this is your last chance to snap up one of Stuart’s canvases for a mere £20,000.

Trina Farrance, whose 12-year-old daughter Chloe is already an under-15s silver medallist in aerobic gymnastics, contacted me to ask if I would give a motivational talk to the club’s upcoming world-beaters. Aerobic gymnastics is a new discipline, yet to be ratified as an Olympic sport but one that is winning a worldwide audience. Last year, the girls competed in Holland, France, Portugal and Lithuania, scooping a hatful of medals; this year will take them as far as the world championships in Nanjeng, China, and perhaps on to Los
Angeles.

I predict the sport could become as popular on TV as ice-dancing. The gymnasts compete on a sprung wooden floor, demonstrating gym, aerobic and dance moves to a 90-second burst of pop music. It’s a demanding workout, requiring stamina, speed, flexibility and strength.

The youngsters who came to my home included British team champions Lauren Baker, 16, Jodie and Emily Gale, and Leanne Crook, all 15, and 14-year-olds Chrystal Hayselden, Talia Katz and Stacy Chance. Watch out for their names!

The guestlist for Stuart Semple’s show defies belief, and demonstrates the regard for Martin Summers among art afficionados. Among the billionaires, business moguls and superstars invited to discover Stuart’s mindblowing paintings are Art Garfunkel, war correspondent Christine Amanpour and her politician husband James Rubin, Bryan Ferry, hotelier Rocco Forte, Victoria de Rothschild, superheir Chris Getty, Hugh Grant, Daphne Guinness, Jerry Hall, Nicky Haslem, Liz Hurley, photographer Alison Jackson, Marco Pierre White, Trinny Woodall, Elton John, Harvey Keitel, Mark Knopfler, Elle MacPherson, Stella McCartney, Sienna Miller, Kate Moss, Jack Nicholson, Anne Robinson and Charles Saatchi.

Any one of them is capable of purchasing all 20 canvases at a swoop, but the likeliest candidate is Saatchi, who has a track-record of bulk
buying painters with exceptional promise.

The depth of Martin’s faith in Stuart’s brilliant talent is plain from that stellar guestlist, but in case you think that represents an ordinary Thursday afternoon tea party at his Chelsea gallery, your jaw would drop when you heard him declare that he had rarely discovered such a painter in 40 years as a connoisseur, and that Stuart’s gift bears comparison with Monet, Picasso and Warhol. “I believe Stuart Semple’s talent to be in the same category,” he insists. “To be in the presence of the man and his work fills me with energy.”

He’s not the only one. Debbie Harry of Blondie took one look and declared, “I am totally stoked by this.”
Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics called it “seriously cool stuff” and Jay Joplin of the White Cube gallery agreed, “The images are very dynamic.”

My friend Anthony d’Offay, who put Warhol on the map, says, “I love Stuart Semple and I’m so pleased to see his paintings everywhere.”
Stuart and I met when he was an unknown, after he made me a cheeky offer: one of my Poole pottery chargers in exchange for a painting. I was delighted by the vast canvas he gave me, not just because it was obviously an outstanding work of art but because its centrepiece was a chihuahua. Stuart had no idea, but little Chico the chihuahua has been an adored part of my family for many years.

Not long after that, I spied a fascinating figure at a garden party given by Princess Michael of Kent, and demanded an introduction.
“That’s Martin,” laughed the Princess, amazed that I didn’t know him.
“You know, the art chappie.”

The art chappie and I got on like a house on fire. We share a bizarre sense of humour and a love of Elvis Presley, and Hanna and I were entranced by his yacht Bluebird, which once belonged to the speed king Malcolm Campbell.

To celebrate his birthday, Martin invited 10 Elvis impersonators to join his friends for a pre-show celebration. To see 10 Elvises together is an awesome sight; to see 20 Semples on the walls was even more incredible. I feel privileged. Trinny Woodall was there, and I was staggered by the synchronicity:
“Someone gave me a copy of your new book just two hours ago,” I told her. She looked fabulous, like a catwalk model. I was braced for tart advice on my dress sense, but I escaped unscathed. Perhaps she thought I was a lost cause.

She was fascinated by Stuart’s clothes, though, in particular the figurine he wears on a chain around his neck. It’s a Ken doll, Barbie’s boyfriend. You wait, they’ll all be wearing them next week.